[Closed] Old Glasgow drovers trail and Ayr costal route

Davy's stats- http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/42275437

Well Davy g aka Doogs and myself decided we would try a route that he suggested on facebook. No time like the present and with that we decided to do it yesterday.

I was trying out a Maxis ADvantage 2.1 on the rear and a Panaracer CG xc 2.1 on the front.

I set off from my house which is a couple miles away from Davy's, met up and off we went.
We headed out of Stranraer towards Innermessin and up towards the bombing wall, i reccomend you take a look on google maps, http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl From Stranraer Head towards Cairnryan, turn off the A77 up towards fell cottage and head on up the road passed Rocky Woods, anyway click on satalite images and follow the road.
You will see 2 big arrows pointing in the direction of the road, these are made out of concrete. keep following them and take a look at the landscape 😉 this area was used for training during World War II, still is till this day but not as destructive.
If you reach Pinwherm reservior you have gone too far.

Anyway, back to the bike ride. We turned left at Pinwherm and headed along the old bumpy road to Lagafater Shooting lodge, then here it was on to twintrack, the twintrack was very stony and loose but soon turned to spongy, wet, bumpy soggy ground

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Now i know that does not look too bad but it was very wet and all a long steady climb which made it slow going, some of it turned to bog and holes, the mist set in and we were beginning to wonder what we had let our selves in for 😆 both of us just got the head down and slogged on.

We got to a small muddy decline, i was right at Davy's back wheel, not wanting to stop in the mud and get stuck i urged him on a bit "keep it chapping Davy!!!" which was followed by a swear word and a near over the bar incident, i was nearly into the back of him but had mud to thank for stopping me, heres what happened 😆
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That whole section was just a swamp.

we climbed another muddy trail till we got to a lovely view point, pics dont do it justice, blame the camera man 😀

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The decent was awesome! natural, muddy bog fest at full pelt, Davy was infront and i was in stitches watching him, both bikes sliding and skidding all over the place, boggy deep holes that look like flat mud just waiting to fling you off, both of us managed to stay on, ive no idea how. This has to be the most i have ever laughed on a decent. It certainly made the slog well worth the effort! 😀

We reached the end of what has to be one of the muddyest decents ever with big grins on our faces and we were now onto a pretty fast stoney decent, again twin track. it was good fun and we were getting good speed. My arms were itching like mad and it felt very bumpy indeed, it wasnt till we reached the finnish of it i realised i had knocked my lockout on by mistake when lifting the bike over the stile (i think) 😆

We got to just before Ballantrae and headed toward the Ayr Costal route. we had the option of doing the costal path (if we could find it ) or travel along the old road to Glenapp and join the costal route later on. We decided to do the costal path from the start since we had travelled this far. Time to consult the Ordenance Survey map Davy had brought with us

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just incase you missed it, it looks like this 😆 😆

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So we find the trail and its fields that the cows trampled up and its slightly dried out so has massive hoof holes all over it, what a slog! time for some food at a little quarry. We had been on the go for a couple of hours.
Our View towards Ballantrae

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We slogged on along the cliff sides and over muddy fields with our wheels spinning out all over the place on the off camber sheep trails, a bit of hike a bike involved.
The Panaracer was doing not to bad but it was not driving the bike and on small loose stones it was flinging lots up.
The ADvantage was super clogged with mud, it does say that the tyre is for loose stone surfaces, no idea if it pinged up stones but has wider spaced knobs so is less likey to compared to the panaracer.

We pushed up a very step section, straight over the top to decend, it was steep and fun, got to a gate then onto a new road that had been chipped out off the hill side. the stones were the size of baby heads and sharp, a digger has litteraly chipped the rock out the hill and made the road with them, some huge stones on it too, pretty loose in sections.
We were both shook to bits come the bottom, definately one of the gnarlyest roads ive ever been down. It was a laugh at the end and im supprised we never got punctures.

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The gentle run off
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The bay
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We were prety tired by now and my phone battery was nearly dead thanks to GPS and endomondo.
We finaly joined the old road which took us along the headland by the mouth of the loch, we went over the summit and it looked like we had more to climb but when we could see down to the bottom it was the A77and Finarts Bay. Needless to say we were relieved. The decent down this steep hill was another very stoney twintrack, not the gnarlfest like the previous short track but long with loose stones everywhere and with good speed it was great fun.

At the bottom we headed along the estate road to finnarts and back on to the A77 to Cairnryan, i was desperate for penny sweets from the shop, we were pretty knackered. I had lost my £2 coin, GUTTED! we trundled home, both sore and in bits 😆

By the time i got home my endomondo stated i had doen 41.9 miles, my first ever 40 miler, i was gutted when it would not upload to the pc, had to update phone software and lost my bike ride hence why ive got Davy's at the top. Bloody technology, these phones are nowt but hassle lol.

well chuffed with the distance and it was great fun, will do it again sometime.

cheers
Scott